Makhdoom Sahib and His Gham-e-Ishq-e-Ilahi—The Pain Of Divine Love That Can Heal Humanity In Kashmir!
By Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi, New Age Islam
6 June 2024
Aie Aatish-e-Furqat Dil Ha Kebab
Karda
Sailab-e-Ishtiyaqat Jaan Ha Kharab
Karda!
(O the fire of separation! You have turned my heart into a painful piece
of flesh like roasted meat/ Kebab. O flood of desires, you have spoiled my
life!)
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Makhdoom Salih
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Recently, I
paid a long-cherished visit to the Astana
(shrine) of Kashmir’s prominent Rishi-Sufi mystic Hazrat Hamza
Makhdoom—popularly known as Makhdoom Sahib—and sometimes also venerated as Sultan-ul-A’rifin (king of the Realised
Ones). He is greatly revered in the Valley as the “Beloved of the World'' (Mahbub-ul-A’alam). His shrine exhumed
deep serenity and solace that overwhelmed me on a Friday after the Juma’a
prayer followed by a congregational traditional Kashmiri Zikr/Dhikr and Salawaat-O-Salaam.
Hazrat Hamza Makhdoom R.A was, as a matter of fact, the main proponent of the
prominent Central Asian Sufi Silsila or Order in Kashmir—Suhrawardiyya.
Originally, he belonged to the local historical Chandravanshi Rajput family of
the Kashmir region. Born in a village near Sopore in Baramulla district, he
spent his childhood in the ancient Kashmiri mystical milieu and was deeply
inspired by the profound influence, teachings and traditions of the previous
Rishi-Sufi Masters such as Nund Rishi Nooruddin Noorani commonly known as
Sheikhul Aalamin Jammu and Kashmir. In the footsteps of Nund Rishi and
Shah-e-Hamdan Ameer Kabir Hazrat Meer Ali Hamadani, Hamza Makhdoom RA also
initiated a spiritual hospice (Khanqah) in the graceful valley which took care
of the poor and the destitute in terms of their spiritual and material needs.
His shrine is on top of the Hari Parbat (Koh-e-Maran),
commanding a majestic view of the most beautiful part of Srinagar.
The
Spiritual King of Kashmir and the 16th century Sufi Sage of the undivided
Valley Hazrat Hamza Makhdoom—popularly known as Makhdoom Sahib—affectionately
called “Mahbub-ul-A’alam” (Beloved of the World) is greatly revered today by
both Kashmiri Muslims and non-Muslims (mainly Kashmiri Pundits) alike,
precisely because of his deeper personal relationship with the Divine and the
pain of separation in this worldly life that he endured in this Eternal,
Ultimate and Unconditional Love—Ishq-e-Haqiqi.
Historians
tell us that Hazrat Hamza Makhdoom’s family consisted of the descendants of
Kangra’s Rajput rulers, through Ramchandra — the commander-in-chief in the army
of Raja Suhadev, the last Hindu ruler of Kashmir, and minister in the court of
Rinchen Shah, the Buddhist ruler who became first ‘Muslim king of Kashmir’.
Hazrat
Hamza Makhdoom’s spiritual genealogy as well as his family lineage can be
traced back to an intellectual legacy (Werasat)
and an ethics-based spirituality (Tariqat).
In his early childhood, his father Usman Raina, himself an acclaimed A’alim (scholar) taught him and then
enrolled him in a local Maktab at his village. Later, his grandfather, Reti
Raina, took him to Srinagar, where he studied the classical Islamic sciences — Quran, Hadith, Kalam (philosophy), Fiqh
(jurisprudence) and Tasawwuf or Sufism at Dar
al-Shifa in Srinagar. Over there, the young Hamza Makhdoom acquired the
classical knowledge and esoteric experience accumulated from the 14 different
Sufi branches. However, towards his later life, he was immensely immersed in
the Suhrawardi Silsila (Sufi order) and thus he introduced a newer spiritual
tradition in the same Sufi Order in Kashmir popularly known as “Silsila Mahbubiyya” which is named after
his lofty title or Laqab (epithet)
“Mahbub-ul-A’alam (Beloved of the World). This is precisely why I look up to
Hazrat Hamza Makhdoom R.A as the first of his kind Suhrawardi saint in the
Valley. Significantly, Hamza Makhdoom RA also strengthened the common grounds
for spiritual coexistence between the Hindu-Rishi and Muslim-Sufi traditions in
Kashmir.
More
notably, Hamza Makhdoom laid greater emphasis on his perennial spiritual
practice Zikr-e-Qalb (inward divine
remembrance and invocations of Allah). He did not like the idea of outward
flaunting of Zikr as it was prevailing in his times in Kashmir’s neo-Sufi
society and, therefore, he exhorted Sufi Sim’a or the mystical music of
Kashmiri origin only within the prescribed limits. Tellingly, he is also known
for questioning the prevailing social customs and several superstitions like
the blind faith in ghosts and the misplaced veneration and fear of the spirits
(Muwakkils). Similarly, he did not
reconcile with the idea of non-Suhrawardi orders about the seclusion and
renunciation of worldly life. He strongly believed in the Prophetic tradition
of “La Rahbaniyyah Fil Islam” (There
is no asceticism in Islam) and therefore he contested it on solid theological
grounds. Once, he asserted that even spiritual seclusion or renunciation does not
imply going naked or forsaking worldly responsibilities. His idea of
renunciation or detachment from the world (Tark-e-Dunya)
was one in which a seeker becomes more sincere on his/her path to the extent
that he/she doesn’t allow worldly and material affluences and mundane matters
to turn into an obstacle in their path towards the ultimate destination and
spiritual liberation.
Hamza
Makhdoom RA was one of the rarest Rishi-Sufis in the Valley who were sociable
and accessible to one and all. Prior to him, the Sufi mystics in the Valley did
not like to create noticeable social connections with the commoners. But Hamza
Makhdoom established a stronger social Sufi network at all levels. No wonder
then, he became “Mahbub-ul-A’alam”
(Beloved of the World) in the truest sense of the meaning. It is quite
astonishing to note that Hazrat Hamza Makhdoom RA left this temporary world for
his eternal heavenly abode at the young age of only 35 years while he had lost
all his teeth, and most of his hair had turned white. He would reportedly say
in his Kashmiri Vakhya/Kalaam as translated below:
“Gham-e-Ishq-e-Ilahi—the pain of divine
love has turned me old” Today, once again, Kashmir needs to nurture this divine
pain to heal the wounds of its war-torn people, especially when a growing
section of the society including youth, children and women are away from the
deep-rooted Rishi-Sufism. On the contrary, they are plagued with the scourges
of drug addiction, emotional and psychological setbacks and mental health
issues caused by the various complex situations and strenuous factors. Faced
with these serious setbacks, the current Kashmiri generation has adopted a dangerous
route to vent out their pent-up anger and frustrations—drug addiction.
Regrettably, the influx of drugs into the region is an attempt to corrupt and
degenerate the Kashmiri youth at the hands of drug peddlers, who will
subsequently destabilise Kashmir through illicit means, and will further fuel
the fire of narco-terrorism coming from across the borders. At this critical
juncture, if anything can save the new Kashmiri Generation and provide the real
panacea for their ills, it is the pain of divine love as enunciated by Hamza
Makhdoom RA. It is in the Rishi-Sufi mystical tradition of the valley itself
where the solution lies to this acute problem. Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi rightly
said: “In problem lies the solution”. It has been relayed in “Dastoor-us-Salikeen” (Constitution of
the Seekers): One day Makhdoom Sahib was in his hospice (Khanqah). All of
sudden, he emerged out of his room and walked along a mountain where a man of
white beard appeared on his face with a noble-looking group of Awliya-e-Kiram
who welcomed him and introduced him to Sheikh Najmuddin Kubrawi (R.A)—the
founder of Silsilah Kubrawiyah in Central Asia who hailed from Khwarezm. Thus,
besides being a Suhrawardi-Sufi sage, Hamza Makhdoom was also initiated into
the Sufi order and the principles of Kubrawiyah-Hamadaniyah which prevailed in
the valley of Kashmir. It was founded by Hazrat Mir Sayed Ali Hamadani (R.A.),
popularly known as Shah-e-Hamadan (king of Hamadan) and Ameer-e- Kabir. As a
prominent proponent of Silsilah Kubrawiyah, Shah-e-Hamdan travelled to various
parts of the world around three times mainly in Central, West and South Asia.
He met and interacted with around 1400 Sufi Divines of his days who granted him
Ijazah (special spiritual permission
to guide others on the path). Reportedly, Shah-e-Hamadan stayed in Srinagar in
783/1381 but in 785/1384 he went back to Central Asia in Khatlan, a province of
Tajikistan today where he is buried.
It was
Sultan-Ul- Arifeen Hazrat Hamza Makhdoom (R.A) who preserved and promulgated
the Silsilah Kubrawiyah-Hamadaniyah along with the Suhrawardi-Sufi Order in
Kashmir. Besides his holy shrine, I have also seen the grave of Baba Dawood
Khaki (R.A)— the most favourite disciple of Hamza Makhdoom (R.A) who is known
as “Imam-e-Azam Abu Hanifa of Kashmir” as he mastered Fiqh-e-Hanafi, the most
tolerant school of Islamic jurisprudence which he promoted in the valley.
Dawood Khaki writes that Hazrat Hamza Makhdoom (R.A) was bestowed with the
divine illuminations of Khashaf-i-Quloob
(opening of the hearts), Khashaf-i-Quboor
(opening of the graves) and Khashaf-i-Israr
(Opening of the Secrets). Hazrat Hamza Makhdoom finally met his Lord in the
Hijri year984 during the reign of Sultan Ali Shah Kochak. Thousands of
Hindu-Muslim Kashmiris throng the shrine of this Rishi-Sufi Sage in Srinagar.
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A
Regular Columnist with Newageislam.com, Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi is an Indo-Islamic
scholar, Sufi poet and English-Arabic-Urdu-Hindi writer with a background in a
leading Sufi Islamic seminary in India. He is currently serving as Head of
International Affairs at Voice for Peace & Justice, Jammu & Kashmir.
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism